A woman from New York City was sentenced December 4th in federal court in Alexandria after she admitted to having participated in a theft ring targeting South Asian families in Northern Virginia. Thirty-four-year-old Melinda Soto was accused of traveling from New York to burglarize dozens of homes in Fairfax and Loudoun counties.

Soto and her husband, Dagoberto Ramirez, pled guilty in September to charges of transporting stolen goods against state lines. A third co-conspirator, Francisco Gray, was deported to Peru after charges against him were thrown out for lack of evidence and his immigration lawyer was unable to secure legal status for Gray. Soto and Ramirez confessed to having burgled thirty-seven homes, stealing over half a million dollars worth of gold heirlooms last winter. Federal authorities told victims in the case that the stolen goods had been melted down almost immediately and sold by the trio.

Soto, who police say would knock on doors to discern whether homeowners were home before her husband and Gray stole the goods, was sentenced before US District Court Judge Leonie M. Brinkema last week. During the hearing, Judge Brinkema said to the defendant:

"Ms. Soto, you're not a kid... You traveled down to Virginia to do these crimes. There was an incredible amount of sophisticated planning, targeting an ethnic community, casing these houses. And even after you were arrested, there's evidence you tried to get an associate to manufacture an alibi."

Soto was ordered to pay restitution to the victims in the amount of $590,860. In addition to the five months she has spent in federal custody, she was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison. Victims in the case were not pleased with the decision. Herndon resident Jaya Sapre, who lost over $25,000 in property due to the thefts, expressed frustration at what she sees as lenient sentencing:

"Thirty-six months is nothing. A hardcore criminal knows now, 'I can do something like this.' Thirty-six months is nothing for them."

This blog post has been prepared by Price Benowitz LLP. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit the Virginia DUI Attorney and Washington DC DUI Attorney websites.

A Virginia Beach man who pled guilty to several counts related to driving while intoxicated following the April 2009 death of a pedestrian has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison. Twenty-six-year-old Brandon Meck testified that he had no recollection of the incident that lead to the death of fifty-seven-year-old David Lucas at the intersection of Virginia Beach Boulevard and North Great Neck Road last year.

Meck said he recalled consuming an alcoholic energy drink and splitting a pitcher of beer during a game of pool with friends at a Virginia Beach bar on the evening of April 23rd, 2009. He also recounted being pulled from his vehicle, a Nissan Xterra, following the fatal incident. But at his sentencing in Circuit Court on November 30th, Meck was unable to describe the events leading up to or the accident in which Lucas was struck and killed.

Meck's Virginia DUI lawyer described the fatal collision as a "terrible mistake," but not a pattern of behavior for his client:

"I'm asking you to look at the big picture. Mr. Meck is a good kid. He made a terrible mistake."

Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Patrick Connolly said Lucas' family did not want to see the young man in prison for the remainder of his life, but acknowledged the gravity of the consequences of Meck's actions:

"The victim is gone. A father is gone. A brother. Due to this man's actions. We can't just forget those things," Connolly said.

Meck is said to have had a blood alcohol level of 0.20, twice Virginia's legal limit for a DUI. At a hearing in July of 2010, Meck pled guilty to aggravated manslaughter, drunken driving and eluding police. He was sentenced by Judge Frederick Lowe to four and a half years in prison under the terms of a plea agreement, the maximum allowable by law.
Prior to his sentencing, Meck expressed remorse in court:

"I'm sorry to my family and to Mr. Lucas family. I wish this never happened."

This article is presented by The Law Office of Price Benowitz, LLP, serving Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. For more information, please visit our Maryland DUI Lawyer and Washington DC DUI Attorney websites.

A man who had not left his apartment in Reston for over three years when he shot and killed his former girlfriend was convicted last week of involuntary manslaughter in the woman's death. Fairfax criminal lawyers for fourty-six-year-old Ron Robertson argued that the killing was an "accident," while prosecutors contended that Robertson's failure to render aid to a dying Karen Deck after shooting her in the head illustrated his intent to kill her.

Deck brought Robertson "food and vodka" on a daily basis, and was said to be his "only connection" to the world that existed outside his apartment. Robertson, whose Virginia criminal attorney described him as a long-time heavy drinker, did not call police after he says Deck was accidentally shot while the defendant attempted to remove a bullet from his 9mm gun on October 23rd, 2009. Robertson called his parents and friends, although he notably did not call 911, to report that he had "shot his girlfriend." After failing to convince his family and friends that he had shot Deck, Robertson passed out until the next day.

On the 24th, another friend visited Robertson to drop off vodka. After the friend left, the defendant again phoned his mother, who finally placed a call to emergency services. At the time of his arrest, Robertson's blood alcohol content was reported to be three times the legal limit for intoxication in Virginia, at 0.245 percent. His Virginia criminal attorney argued that his client's addiction in and of itself would have made him less likely to intentionally kill Deck:

"Why would Mr. Robertson want to kill his lifeline, his link to the world? He needed his alcohol, his drug. Why would he kill her? . . . All of the physical evidence supports Mr. Robertson's version, that it was an accident."

In court on November 19th, a jury in Fairfax rejected the prosecution's request for a first-degree murder conviction, recommending a maximum term of 10 years in prison on the charge of involuntary manslaughter. At a sentencing hearing early next year, Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Smith can either impose or reduce that sentence. After the shooting, almost a dozen guns were found in Robertson's apartment, and he could be brought up on federal gun charges for possessing guns as a felon.

This article is presented by Price Benowitz LLP, serving Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC. For more information, please visit our Maryland DUI Lawyer and Washington DC DUI Attorney websites.